Denver’s defense had done significant damage to his attire. And his mood. But he was very respectful after getting battered all afternoon.

“They’re a very, very good defense. You see it on film and you see it when you play them,” Luck said.

Sacked five times, hit 11 times and chased out of the pocket all afternoon, Luck was 21-of-40 passing for 197 yards. The Broncos returned an interception for a score and a Luck fumble for a score to provide the winning 14-point margin in the 34-20 victory. Another bad day for a visiting quarterback to Sports Authority Field at Mile High.

“Credit to them for creating their own opportunities. We didn’t take advantage of ours,” Luck said. “They did a good job. We did some OK things. Really didn’t create much of a rhythm until that second half. But it was a tight ballgame. it was a one-score game coming out of the half. We had our opportunities. We didn’t capitalize.”

John Leyba, The Denver Post

Shane Ray (56) of the Denver Broncos gets his hands on Andrew Luck (12) of the Indianapolis Colts during the fourth quarter. The Denver Broncos hosted the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016.

Von Miller sacked Luck three times — including on the game-clinching play with under two minutes left and on the final play of the game. Trailing 26-20 with 1:51 remaining, Luck said he never saw Miller before the linebacker strip-sacked him, leading to Shane Ray’s fumble recovery and score.

“He’s a very good player,” Luck said of Miller. “We have the utmost respect for him. We understand how good he is.”

Colts coach Chuck Pagano said Luck should have protected the ball better on the Miller strip sack.

“I know Andrew would love to have it back. We’d all love to have it back,” Pagano said. “You have to take care of the football in that situation.”